Amy’s Birth Story

So I was a first time mum and was debating whether to have a home birth, after attending Leah’s Bumps and Bubbles event and having a chat with her, Leah calmed my nerves about having a home birth and answered some of the questions I had. From that night I had decided I wanted a home birth. I read a few books and joined the Leeds Homebirth Support Group on Facebook, which was amazing for information, reading other people’s experiences and also the ability to post on there and get any questions answered. 

I had a straightforward pregnancy although we had conceived through IVF. I was sent for a growth scan at 36 weeks due to my fundal height measurements measuring big. I was told that my baby was measuring 9lb and 3oz at 36 weeks. Before now, I had been relaxed about birth and was focussing on my home birth but this scan threw me off and I started to worry about the risks of birthing a big baby at home. I had a call with a consultant at Leeds General Infirmary to discuss my options, which was very positive and he basically suggested an early induction, he discussed shoulder dystocia (which is a slightly higher risk with a big baby) although after doing research, ultrasound scans during late pregnancy can be inaccurate so I was unsure whether my baby would actually be big or not.

I read a book called ‘In Your Own Time’ by Sara Wickham, which discusses lots of scenarios and one of them was big babies and the discussion of shoulder dystocia. I decided not to be induced early and I went into labour on Sunday 1st December. I had period pains during the night and contractions started at around 6am. I did hypnobirth breathing using the 4/8 breathing technique and used a TENS machine. I couldn’t have gotten through the contractions without the breathing as they felt quite intense and painful from the start. 

I was having contractions on and off for 3 days, sometimes they would slow and then increase again but they weren’t progressing enough to 3 in 10 minutes. 

I thought my waters had broken on Tuesday morning so I went into the Maternity Assessment Centre (MAC) and they examined me. I asked them if they could do a sweep to move things along. When they examined me they said my cervix wasn’t open and the head wasn’t even behind the cervix so they wouldn’t be able to do a sweep. They removed a lot of mucus though which was my mucus plug. 

 My waters finally broke on Wednesday morning after me bouncing on my ball after feeling quite a lot of pressure down below. I’m not going to sugar coat it, I found it hard work being in slow labour for so many days. I went into MAC at LGI early hours of Wednesday morning and the midwife said to me “you’re done now aren’t you?” as she could see the exhaustion in me.

We were taken onto a ward and I was still having irregular contractions but some were intense up to 2 minutes. A couple of midwives and a consultant came to see me and asked what I wanted to do in terms of intervention; at this stage I had decided not to give birth at home as I felt I needed more support and pain relief. My options were; induction, C-section or continue to labour naturally.

At this point I had done 4 days of contractions and had very little sleep. They suggested an induction with an epidural but I knew from my research that an epidural/induction isn’t recommended for larger babies as an active birth is the best option to reduce the risk of shoulder dystocia and to enable the baby to move down more easily through the pelvis. The consultant said I could have an epidural and I could rest and I may feel better and have more energy as I had raised concerns that I felt I didn’t have any energy to push the baby out at this point.

I had come into hospital with a C-section in mind because I was just so exhausted. I’ll be honest I couldn’t make my mind up and felt that I should probably go for an induction. I remember voice noting my best friend and saying what shall I do (she had 3 babies of her own and 2 home births) and she said to me, you are exhausted and you won’t have the energy to push baby out. I remember at that point calling back the midwife and saying I would like a C-section please. 

The drs, consultants and midwives read out the risks and I signed the consent forms. I remember just thinking in my head I’ve made the right decision. This was at lunchtime and at 7pm they came to collect me to get me ready for theatre. I was still having contractions and they were getting stronger. I remember thinking what if the baby just comes naturally in the meantime.

Me and my husband were taken down to theatre and we were explained before going in about what would happen. We entered the room and I remember thinking how many people were in there! There must have been at least 10 different people, maybe more. I felt so relaxed and at ease and me, my husband and some of the theatre staff were laughing and joking together! 

They did the spinal injection and the instant relief I felt after being in pain for four days was amazing. The plan was for the surgeon to announce to my husband the gender and then he would announce it to me. I was awake for the procedure but couldn’t feel anything from my waist down. The surgeon checked how dilated I was and he said I was still only 2cm after 4 days in labour! It took about 7/8 minutes for them to get the baby out, the radio was on and Fairytale of New York was playing.

All the plans of announcing the gender went out of the window as the surgeon couldn’t believe how big he was! He held him up and said “it’s a boy” and more of the theatre staff were saying ‘he’s a big boy’ ‘he’s massive’ and he was, as he had weighed 11lb 1oz. We couldn’t believe it and when they held him up and brought him over – it was the best moment of our lives, we couldn’t believe he was ours. They put him on my chest after my husband had cut the cord and left him there for another 20 mins or so whilst they stitched me up.

The whole experience of being in theatre was amazing and so positive. I knew at this moment I had made the right decision as it was evident my baby hadn’t moved down into my pelvis properly and that’s why I hadn’t progressed or my cervix hadn’t dilated. I know people do birth big babies naturally, but in my intuition I just knew it wasn’t working for me. 

We were then transferred onto the postnatal ward and all the staff on there were incredible at checking anything I was concerned about during the night. 

Although it was very different to what I had imagined, I can’t speak more highly of all the staff at Leeds General Infirmary, everyone we came across in MAC, theatre and the postnatal ward, they all made the whole experience, calm, supportive and memorable.